Big Bear's Haunted Hot Spot: Captain's Anchorage Restaurant And Bar

BIG BEAR, CA — Nearly 80 years after a Western movie star opened up a mountain top tavern known as a gambling den and Hollywood haunt, it's no longer the John Wayne and Roy Rogers sightings that has everyone talking. These days, it's an entirely other kind of haunting turning heads, patrons and employees will swear.

Today, Big Bear’s Captain's Anchorage Restaurant and Bar is as famous for its storied history as for the “hauntings” that keep the stories alive.

The restaurant opened in 1947 as the Sportsman’s Tavern by Andy Devine, the actor famous for his roles in “Stagecoach” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” and as the sidekick “Cookie” in several Roy Rogers films. His movie star friends joined him, and so did a slew of gamblers throughout the 40s and 50s. The booming business had a bookkeeper named George, who met his end by violent means in the upstairs office now known as the Captain’s Quarters.

According to the lore passed down through the employees, George had been accused of embezzling, and it was never known if he died by suicide or murder. Employees say George remains to this day, haunting the Captain’s Anchorage with an unknown woman, bedeviling bartenders and unsettling the employees and patrons alike.

General Manager Carlos Yanez has seen it firsthand.

“Lorraine, our bartender of 46 years, has seen the most, from feeling her ponytail being pulled, or hearing footsteps upstairs when no one is in the building,” said Yanez. “Some, including myself, have seen apparitions. Mine was walking up the stairs.”

The apparition most commonly captured on camera at the restaurant appears as a glowing orb.

Yanez began to believe the ghost stories before he even started working at the Captain’s Anchorage. New to town in 2019, he and his wife dropped by for a drink.

“We sat at the bar. My wife, with her great intuition, says ‘This place feels haunted.’ The bartender overheard and started to tell us about George and his love for Crown Royal Whiskey and that the bottle of Crown has been known to fall off the shelf when no one is around,” said Yanez. “We thought that was cool. Literally 5 minutes later, the bartender walks away from behind the bar. Mind you, we were the only two at the bar top. Then two wine glasses fly off the shelf and break! There was no way that there was foul play.”

Yanez keeps on his phone security footage of the empty bar, showing a bottle gliding off the wine rack as if pulled out by an invisible hand.

“There isn't really a time of day/year when things occur. But most are reported later in the evening,” he said. “I think it's because staff isn't focused on work, since it's slowing down.”

Most of the staff knows the history of the restaurant, and many have their own personal stories of the paranormal at the ready when customers ask, said Yanez.

The restaurant has invited mediums, psychic and paranormal investigators to delve into the hauntings. This year, they are leaning into their haunted history with a Haunted Supper Oct. 26, featuring a four-course meal and a paranormal investigation.